The ‘It Me’ Podcast: Do Brands Really Win Championships?

We joke a lot about “brands” on the podcast. Maybe it’s because we’ve had trillballins on too many times, or maybe it’s because we’re inundated with branding everywhere we turn. But it’s impossible to ignore the fact that this stuff matters, especially when it comes to sports. High school players can change their minds based on the smallest things, and if you don’t have a way of standing out among all the other FBS programs (Bama excluded), you might not land the guy you want.

That’s where Jeremy Darlow comes in. As the director of marketing for adidas, Darlow sees what goes into making top tier programs not just imposing on the field, but a household name. It goes way beyond logos, colors, and uniform combos. Darlow is the author of Brands Win Championship and he’s constantly on college campuses talking with coaches, athletic directors, and sports business classes.

For some reason Jeremy decided to take some time to talk to us, and we picked his brain about a few different things, including:

What factors high school players think about when choosing one team over another

What teams can do to stand out

Why branding matters

The job Texas A&M has done in transforming its program under Kevin Sumlin

The ‘F$%& Curses’ promotion in line with Kris Bryant and the Cubs during their World Series run

The Yeezy Cleat launch

And more!

As always, comments and tweets are welcome. Subscribe to us on iTunes, too! You can find Robby at (@rkalland) and Martin at (@martinrickman). Jeremy is at (@jeremydarlow). Sports are great and so are friends, but sports are always better with friends.

Special thanks to the band Annabel for our intro and outro music. They’re really good. You should buy their music at their website or perhaps see them play a show some time.